Sunday, March 03, 2024

About On Wings Of Immortals - the trilogy

Although each book of On Wings Of Immortals - the trilogy: Ayekah The Damned, Virgins, and Maculatum are fiction, the author has based much of the accounts on current research regarding religion, mysticism, geography, history, and theology. Also, some ancient myths evolved from beliefs, such as that mermaids developed from water, sylphs from the air, gnomes from the earth, and salamanders from spirits. 
Even in modern times, some scientists speak of humans as having an elemental spirit called "natural tectonics," which includes forces cracking the planet's crust with earthquakes and volcanos. 
In the ancient "Paracelsian concept," elementals are "beings" that live longer than humans, and by marrying a mortal, their elemental and its offspring could gain a soul. 
In mythology, ancient history, and The Old Testament, the most common way to understand these elemental spirits is as angels. 
For more information, go to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elemental.

Possible cover page for Ayekah The Damned

Books, movies, or authors Ayekah The Damned might resemble. 

I say Ayekah The Damned is like many films and or book series I love: Quirky like Mozart - the film, - Historical like the Clan Of The Cave Bears series by Jean Auel - Erotic like The Handmaid's Tale books and film - Mysterious like the Vampire series by Anne Rice - and Spiritual like Paolo Coelho - tales.

Interested in reading and commenting on a few pages? Leave a message on this site or on Facebook or at Marta C. Weeks or email mdcmdaw@gmail.com

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome!

Ayekah The Damned - book one of my Wings Of Immortals series - is loosely based on historical facts starting at human creation and contains some adult content.


Monday, February 19, 2024

MODEL TRAIN DISPLAYS AND VIDEOS

The below Vimeo address' are not active links, they should be typed or copied and pasted into the browser window. Each vimeo address will go directly to the associated video.


NCNGRR Model Train Layout @ Nevada County Fair Grounds
Welcome to the Nevada County Fair-Grounds and NCNGRR model train display and club. This HO narrow gauge and O gauge layout represent the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad that ran between Nevada City, Grass Valley and connecting with the Southern Pacific RR in Colfax, California. The NCNGRR operated from 1876 to 1942. 

On The Scales S1 E1 NCNGRR Museum Interviews
Introducing a new program titled 'On The Scales: Weighing in With Model Railroaders'. We will be showcasing local model railroads of all scales starting with big scale in an introduction to the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum in Nevada City. Episode one is an overview of the museum featuring key museum volunteers.

On The Scales S1 E2 NCNGRR Museum Railbus Ride
Narrow Gauge Rail Bus Tour: A glimpse of the NCNGRR & Transportation Museum rail bus tour including narration to showcase this premier attraction of the museum, which operates on weekends May to October each year.

On The Scales S1 E4 Tin Plate RR with Chuck Brasher
We continue our On The Scales: weighing in with model railroaders programming with Season 1 Episode 4 Tin Plate RRs. We're visiting with Chuck Brasher of Grass Valley and his magnificent O and standard gauge train collection. All of this collection is from the 1930s/40s era when model trains were still considered toys. Sit back, relax and be delighted.

On The Scales S1 E5 DRGW and RGS O and On3 Scale RR With John Bridges
On The Scales: Weighing in with model railroaders S1 E5 travels to the home of John Bridges in Nevada City and his O & On3 scale train layout; modeled on the narrow and standard gauge railroads of Colorado, John has recreated in a rather small space, the sense of open mountain and valley railroading n Colorado's gold mining boom years.

For more information contact me via this website.

Saturday, February 03, 2024

From Then To Now.

T. S. Eliot once wrote, "Good writers borrow, great writers steal." 
Since early childhood, bedridden with polio, I looked forward to getting a new book and made-up stories about damsels who overcame their distress. 
Once with braces, I hobbled up to the attic of my grandparents' store, where I read amid shelves filled with books in semi-darkness, sitting by a small barred window under a light bulb strung from the ceiling.
As I recovered and was in water therapy, I paddled with delight, hanging on to the pool's edge, and with my legs and back free from braces, I floated, dreaming I was dancing. 
In high school, I learned about cruelty and bad people. From part-time work saved for dancing and modeling classes, I was a fashion model when I got my first dancing contract, and later, in  Chicago, I met Victor, a construction foreman and poet. 
Married and with children, I was a stay-at-home mom, taking college classes, when in the 80s economic crisis, our family lost everything. We started to recoup when Vic went into computer programming, and I, while hosting a T.V. show (for free), earned my counseling degree and was hired by State and County government services.
 We relocated for me to accept a promotion to Research Analyst when, a couple of years later, Vic passed away after a triple bypass. A year later, unable to stay where we were with just my salary, I accepted a promotion and moved. 
In time, even though I thought I could never fall in love again until I met and married John. Now, both retired, we live in the foothills of Northern California. I started to write, and The Sylph's Tale, my first screenplay, won a third-place ISA award. Some of my poems have been finalists, such as at the San Francisco 2012 Writers' Conference. Also, I was writing for Examiner.com and CBS Sacramento until I began VIRGINS, now the third book of my On Wings Of Immortals.
P.S. I agree with Eliot; my series On Wings Of Immortals is inspired by favorite authors such as Auel, Mitchener, Castaneda, Rice, King, Kostova, Coelho, and Poe.


Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Author Caren Gallimore, Interview


I selected illustrator, editor, and award-winning author Caren Gallimore for my first author interview. In her debut novel WANTED, the reader can "ride the trails of imagination" with her main character, Caitlyn Daniels, who "didn’t plan to fall in love, least of all with an outlaw. Life was too exciting to waste it on domesticities. However, when Dakota Cabe rode into town, she lost her heart to him."
My questions and Gallimore's answers:


Caren, when did you first consider yourself a writer?
At age ten, my best friend and I created our cat magazine.
Do you have a specific writing style?

I’m a pantser. I relate my writing process to conversing with a dear friend who calls out of the blue and says, “Guess what happened?” She tells me, and I’m flabbergasted by her news.
It’s the same with my characters, I write down their news and in the process discover what all happened. The preceding event that led up to the calamity is as exciting as their plans to resolve it. I find out even more about my characters and how their experiences came to be. From there, I just follow them around. Sometimes, one of my characters does something so out of place and contradictory to what I expect I’m stunned. Regardless, I write it down, and eventually, it all makes sense.

How did you come up with the title?
My first choice was Leather and Lace, but the title was already taken. Wanted was the next logical choice because of my main male character’s unfortunate bounty on his head and my heroine's desire for the man under the rough veneer. I assumed the publisher would change the title so I always considered it my working title. They didn’t change it, and that is what it is printed under. Gasp. I didn’t realize how many Wanted titles there were or their distinctions. 😊
Is there a message in your novel you want readers to grasp?
As hokey as this sounds, love is stronger than any devil you may encounter, and faith in your loved one when circumstances contradict can make that commitment even stronger. And women are tough.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
Finding uninterrupted time to write. I am not a person that can write wherever. Again, I relate it back to an intense conversation with a friend. You don’t want to put her on hold or have other people eavesdropping on you. You want to sit down and listen intently.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Not to get overly involved with my characters and interfering with their decisions. And also uninterrupted time, especially for edits. I certainly don't expect life to pause while I’m writing, but I find it challenging to do edits if I have conflicting interests.
Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?
From a very early age, I loved to draw and always had a little story to go with the drawing. My spelling was atrocious, but what can you expect at five?
Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it? 

It’s not so much about being a writer as it is to write the story. I think everyone has a story to tell but it needs to be on paper so others can read it?
Do you have any advice for other writers?
Just write. Never stop to edit until you are done. Write even if you have nothing to say. When I’m stumped in my writing, I write about that, and I also write the reason why. Such as: Where am I going with this? This conflicts with my character's background. Why does it? Why would she act so out of character? Did I miss something? It’s incredible what I discover just by writing my thoughts. I ask myself questions and write down the answers. Why would she say that? What did he feel when she said that? I also write scenes in reverse switching characters, and change the POV to get to the core of the scene.
Do you have anything specific you want to say to your readers?
Thank you for reading my work. I put my heart into it and hope it was all you expected it to be. Please let me know your thoughts.
Are experiences based on someone you know or events in your own life?
As a preteen, I camped with the Girl Scouts at a Pony Express station in Utah that no longer exists. That experience has stayed with me my entire life. I fell in love with the West and the ruggedness of the people that lived there.
Please share some pointers about the storyline.
Wanted is a love story set in 1885 in a fictional town in Colorado. The two main characters are Dakota Cabe and Kaitlin Daniels. The story starts out in Bisweak Colorado where the two meet.
This is from my back cover, which I hope tells you about the storyline:
Caitlyn Daniels didn’t plan to fall in love, least of all with an outlaw. Life was too exciting to waste it on domesticities.
However, when Dakota Cabe rode into town, she lost her heart to him. His reputation, which left most women in need of smelling salts, didn’t deter her; she saw the man beneath the tough façade of a hard-hearted desperado. When the sheriff forced him out of town, she was devastated. She understood his reasons to protect her from bounty hunters, but she’d rather live on the run than without him. But he didn’t ask, and she didn’t tell him she was pregnant. Her pride wouldn’t allow her.
Eighteen months later, John Wakefield, a vindictive outlaw, kidnaps her son and her friend. Her pride was meaningless. She’d make a deal with the devil if that could change things.
Alone, but not without skills of her own, she rides out after John Wakefield and his gang.
In her desperate pursuit to rescue her son, she collides with Dakota, surprisingly on the same mission. She needs a man as cold, brutal, and cunning as the man who has her son; she needs Dakota Cabe. And she wasn’t too proud to beg if necessary, but she didn’t have to.
Former lovers, now daring desperados they put their past aside to save their son. Together they confront vicious outlaws; friends turned enemies and an unruly love neither of them can deny nor control.
Can you share a little of your current work with us?


ANOTHER TIME will be a 95,000-word time-travel romance set in the wild west and the present day.
The synopsis is below:
A simple incident of being in the wrong place at the wrong time propels Jessalyn McQuire back 100 years into a time of vigilante justice, half-breed cowboys and high-test horses. At first, Jess is pleasantly amused by the shenanigans of this overdone John Wayne reenactment, but as time goes on, and real bullets start to fly, humor turns into the mother of all headaches.
Devon Slade is baffled by the woman he finds alone, without a horse, (although she claimed to have had a car), dressed in men's clothing, black goo running down her face in a ghoulish manner, with no weapons and in need of assistance. Being graced with this problem when he was in the middle of making haste doesn’t endear her to him.
Chased by outlaws, attacked, robbed and nearly hung does little to entice Jess to stay in the Wild West. What she truly wants is a first class ticket back home and a chilled martini.
But, there is one little hitch to her quest to get back home; obnoxious as the man was, he had proven to be more dependable, more capable and more genuine than any man she had ever met.
If she could find her way home, would she really want to go?

Thank you Marta!


More Caren Gallimore images


www.goodreads.com/.../show/18464921.Caren_Gallimore
“Ride the trails of Imagination”

About Rights, a poem

Voices claim
With words or actions 
Rights to justice. 

From streets to stages 
They talk of blame
Sources of wrongs. 
  
Do you tell your kin?
Their feelings and pain
Matters not?


Friday, February 24, 2023

This article was published in a publication that no longer exists.

Memories

Loving Me Gently, 

It was, for the most part, an unusual journey. I call it a journey because a trip is going to a place. A  journey makes time for letting places and people take you into their experience. Like loving gently and letting oneself live again.

For us, it was more than Paris, Spain, and the Azores Islands. We discovered, uncovered, and recovered our passion while traveling in and around Paris. The wonder, the romance in the old and exotic taking us to be part of memories and experiences in a land that grew as if from an artist's palette brushed with dreams.

In the wonderment of it all, just the two of us driving from Madrid to Lalin, Spain, finding so much more than we ever expected. And, in a historical place, that came to me in my daughter's name. And later materialized as I wrote VIRGINS, a novel.

All the while feeling an angel tell me, in a church of the ancient times, and in the dark of our room, the true sense of being as just the two of us passed time feeling the the passing of time. The birth of tomorrow as we drove from Pontevedra to Santiago de Compostela.

Across green valleys, rolling hills, and sky-scraping mountains. Amid cities, villages, castles, and rivers meandering, and then to the unexpected liveliness and elegance of Burgos and impeccable highways landscaped in history into the tumultuous fullness of Barcelona.

In the newness and wonderment, the simple majesty of time. Lived in and like children holding hands. We grew in awe of the great grand time they we had never met but gave our ancestors birth. The new from the old, the simple from the ornate, a culture, a people so different and yet, as if we knew each other as forever best friends.

Then, boarding a ship with many strangers, our dreams mingled with all dreams in a dream of eternity; let it never end, not in the ports of Valencia, Malaga, or the Azores. Let us never forget that although with many strangers we traveled just the two of us, amid friendly faces and hearts that touched just for a moment in the eternity of moments.

 And one night of our return amid all that glitters in the water around us, amid a violinist concerto of magical melody and the rocking sounds of blues and rock and roll. The music from our pasts had us all holding hands in pairs, crossing arms with each other as we dined. Sharing how it is where we came from and the lives and loves that wait for our return.

Yet it all that mattered was just the two of us, amid petals and smiling faces. Our hearts were full of passionate memories. Years left behind and those for whom we praised here and there looking forward to the return. 

But just then it was just the two of us into the fold.

Marta Weeks wrote this article after she and John, her husband, went to Europe, in February 2015

File: 215-Weeks-M-LovingMeGently-11-pdf


 page2image18880page2image356544 page2image357584


Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!

Sunday, December 04, 2022

Sunday poem: INJUSTICE

INJUSTICE

(This is a 7&4 poem; one line is 7 words, and the next is 4)


Mixed in the shrill sound of sirens 

Screams wet with tears

Come from mouths eyes of desperate faces

Amid cries for justice

Most die never knowing other than shadows

Their presence diminished, distrusted

By those who teach spoon-fed children

To be kind lambs

Not to cry, rebel, or to instigate

When in shadows of need

Begging for bits with simple gratitude eyes

While ignored by the faithful

Though or called lazy by the loaded

Why are you sensitive?

While the callous add, "get a job."

"Would you hire me?"

"No, you have no trade nor experience."

Throws dimes, not dollars

Worried about having-not walking, work, and life

To signal diminished value

Smiles giving his dog from the pound

Kindness to feel worthwhile

As beggars walk on crap-filled streets.


@MMAW-10/2/22 revised 12/04/22 







Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!

Thanks for visiting!

Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!

A New World

A new world unfolds 
not from the heart of religious prophecy 
but from the mind of technology. 
An event so holy will be seen as evil. 
All Mighty, will your tabernacle harlots 
interpret Your wisdom and separate truth 
from false teachings? 

by @mmdaw

 



Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!

Saturday, September 10, 2022

THE WRITER

To a writer
the empty page
says
fill me up
it's lonely here
let's
build a world
from words and
feelings
and with wings
fly with
letters.


mdcmdaw9/10/22



Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!

Saturday, August 06, 2022

Poem: About Rights

Voices claim

rights to justice

from streets to stages

proclaim credence to sources of

 writes and wrongs.


Do you

 teach your kin

with words or actions

that's their right to decide 

who can live or be killed?


That safety

is in color 

of skin or birth 

for only whites can determine

who is right even though wrong?


Clean streets 

minds and hearts

from immigrants, they decide

are the scum that takes

their place and proper place away.

 

In cheer 

as in pomp

shades of citizens unite

to judge right from wrong

kept to use to be deployed.


Does God

 support those who 

in the name of 

country kill to proclaim rights

only by skin or color as kin?

 

@MartaCWeeks.com


Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!

Sunday, July 24, 2022

Poem: Fear

Fear


In fear-loaded times

Will wearing a mask

That blends with all 

Does not claim sides

Speaks of nothing

Stands for none 

Keep us safe 

To walk in crowds

Or hide behind closed doors

Doing nothing 

Offending no one

When a voice, fist, bomb

In a corner, school, or mall

Attacks


Marta@poetry

5/31/21



Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Poem: The Empty Page

The Empty Page
to writers says
fill me up
it's lonely here
without words
let's build a world
of words and feelings
with wings
that fly with letters.


Ayekah, The Damned, will be available soon...



Thanks for stopping by; I welcome your comments and suggestions!

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Paranormal shifter or fantasy?

For those who ask, "When will you publish the On Wings Of Immortals, the trilogy, and why it's for adults only?"

I wrote Sylph's Tale first as a screenplay, that won an award. Then, from the notes, I published it as a very short book on Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com 

I say On Wings Of Immortals, the trilogy is for adults only because I include all aspects of relationships between all living things and, in particular, humans. And can be steeped in uncensored passion from Creation to the present.  

For example, the first book in the series, Ayekah The Damned, starts at Creation and how every species fought to survive and procreated. Not as usually veiled in most regular books but in a world where survival for most living creatures meant fighting, building, and destroying.

Possible front page for book one: AYEKAH THE DAMNED

To those who might wonder what books, movies, or authors Ayekah The Damned might resemble.
I say Ayekah The Damned it's:
Quirky like Mozart - the film
Historical like Clan Of The Cave Bears - by Jean Auel
Erotic like The Handmaid's Tale - books/films
Mysterious like The Vampire - like Anne Rice's series and films
Spiritual like Paolo Coelho - tales

The remaining two books of the series, VIRGINS and  MACULATUM, are set in real-time and into the future and are also steeped in fantasy, romance, and history, some of which are graphic. And as characters change from eternal beings to humans, some of the story's paranormal elements are for adults.

https://www.martacweeks.com/p/on-wings-of-immortals-series_2.html

I welcome comments and suggestions! 
Your comments are appreciated. 
Marta

Sunday, March 06, 2022

ON THE NEWS TODAY

Far away from us

People leave dead loved ones

Spouses and homes

Carry children

And the little they can

From amid the rubble 

Of what once was plenty

To escape death

In the hope of safety

In search of life

In smiles and arms 

Of those who welcome them.

@maw3/6/22





Friday, February 04, 2022

How to manage and or introduce settings.

Settings for a story are as important as the characters. Therefore, an author must learn all about where the story takes place.

Here is an excellent article about settings: 

Setting as Obstacles: 
How to Make Your Environment Impact Your Plot 
                            by Caitlin Berve


For Caitlin Berve complete article, go to: https://www.ignitedinkwriting.com/ignite-your-ink-blog-for-writers/setting-as-obstacles-how-to-make-your-environment-impact-your-plot/2019?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=how_to_use_your_setting_as_more_than_a_backdrop&utm_term=2022-02-04

Your comments and suggestions are very welcome!



Tuesday, December 28, 2021

A truly free and totally worthwhile workshop

It was almost by accident that I came upon this great video, lesson and site. I don't belong to it but dedefinitely saving the information because it's a for sure a go back to: 





Your comments and suggestions are very welcomed!

Sunday, November 21, 2021

A Course On Miracles - article by Foundation for Inner Peace

A Course in Miracles states we “need do nothing.” We need to do nothing, except go to the quiet center within. “This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed...” T-18.VII.8:3‒4

A Course in Miracles would not exist without the inner listening of scribe Dr. Helen Schucman, to a Higher Voice. The directive was from ACIM’s Author Jesus, through Dr. Schucman, that all decisions at the Foundation for Inner Peace were to be based on listening to inner guidance. For forty-six years, we have been a Spirit-guided organization, collectively stopping and going to that quiet place to hear what the Holy Spirit would have us do. This type of collaboration promotes a work environment of vigilant conscious dedication to the daily application of the principles of A Course in Miracles.

Your loving participation has empowered us to widely expand the availability of ACIM in 2021 through:
A new online interactive Web Edition
New monthly webinars discussing A Course in Miracles
A new weekly podcast series called “Miracle Voices,” featuring forgiveness stories
A growing, robust social media following, with a Facebook group of nearly 20K
An active translation program now finishing Farsi and Arabic languages
An audio version of the Course, available on Audible and on our YouTube channel
Our prisoner and scholarship program that gifts the Course to all who request it

“Two voices raised together call to the hearts of everyone, to let them beat as one.” T-20.V.2:3

We are directed to partner with you in this work. You are an integral part of our mission. Your devotion to the Course and your continued support enables us to follow our guidance.

Please give as generously as the Holy Spirit guides you in partnering with us to continue to spread this message of love.

Love is the way we walk, with you, in gratitude.

With Love from Your Foundation for Inner Peace








































IA Course in Miracles states we “need do nothing.” We need to do nothing, except go to the quiet center within. “This quiet center, in which you do nothing, will remain with you, giving you rest in the midst of every busy doing on which you are sent. For from this center will you be directed...” T-18.VII.8:3‒





https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10225513928573202&set=gm.3820797704639183&type=3



Your comments and suggestions are very welcomed!